1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to the vending arts generally and more specifically to vending machine delivery systems for determining whether a product has actually been delivered to the consumer after a customer order.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Currently, vending machines lack the ability to detect and confirm whether an ordered product has been actually delivered to a customer after an ordered vend event by the customer has occurred. Present methods, referred herein as the home switch method, always assume that the ordered product is available for delivery and that the product is successfully delivered upon completing one vend cycle.
However, vending machines often fail to deliver the product after the vend cycle for various reasons, including improper installation of the products by the vendor""s sales representative or obstructions in the delivery path. Thus, presently, after paying for the product and a vend cycle occurring, the customer fails to receive the ordered product, resulting in the customer becoming frustrated with the vending company, affecting customer relations and vending sales.
A vending system that verifies the delivery of a ordered product using a product delivery system that sends a product from a first storage position through a delivery path to a second receiving position, a sensing system located along the delivery path that senses when the product passes a sensor during the product transition through the delivery path from the first position to the second position, and a reporting circuitry electronically coupled to the sensing circuitry wherein the reporting circuitry reports to the product delivery system when the product has passed through the sensing system.
Additionally, a vending machine method is provided for determining whether a product is delivered, the method comprising the steps of sending a delivery signal based on a customer ordering event to a product delivery system, monitoring a delivery path that the product travels to reach a product receiving location, and determining if the product was delivered to the receiving space.
The foregoing has outlined some of the more pertinent objects and features of the present invention. These objects should be construed to be merely illustrative of some of the more prominent features and applications of the invention. Many other beneficial results can be attained by applying the disclosed invention in a different manner or modifying the invention as will be described. Accordingly, other objects and a fuller understanding of the invention may be had by referring to the following Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment.